OU. XXXIX 



FAILING HEALTH 225 



the year. It was on the day following his 

 visit that his old friend died. 



Lord Avebury wrote an appreciation of him 

 in the Spectator : " The charming article in the 

 Spectator. It was so kind and nice," is the 

 comment on it of the member of the family who 

 was soon to be his son-in-law. 



Lady Ritchie's letter on the subject is so 

 delightful that it demands quotation : 



Dear Lord Avebury — I have just been reading 

 with sympathetic response your letter about Sir 

 Mountstuart. How well you have told the history, 

 and how gratefully I remember his kindness and out- 

 coming friendly graciousness. Some people seem to 

 be like Radium, and give and give and never fail. 

 Lady Grant Duff took me in to see him only a few 

 days before that sad 12th of January. I thought he 

 had never talked more delightfully. I am so glad you 

 have given his old friends the satisfaction of finding 

 what they are all thinking put into words and fact. 



Don't think of answering this ; it is only for my own 

 satisfaction that I write, not to give you trouble. — 

 Yours always sincerely, Annie Ritchie. 



He was pressed at this time to become President 

 of the Moral Instruction League, but though he 

 sympathised in a measure with its objects, he 

 declined — one of the reasons given for his decision 

 being that he was not " so young as he was." 

 It is the first time that we find him sounding 

 this note of recognition that he had lost any of 

 his youthful energy. It is possible enough that 

 his old friend's death may have given him an 

 intimation that his advancing years claimed a 

 little more consideration than he was at all 

 disposed to pay them. 



VOL. II Q 



